--- canonical: https://amplience.com/developers/docs/user-guides/produce-content/search/ title: Searching description: User guide for how to organize content within Dynamic Content, using repositories and folders and also how to archive and unarchive content items and slots. audience: Business User image: https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/content-library-search-box-1?w=1200&h=630 image_width: 1200 image_height: 630 date_published: 2026-06-24 date_modified: 2026-06-18 --- # Searching with Dynamic Content Dynamic Content allows you to do basic searches for content, for example `sale`, as well as more advanced searches using wildcard characters and parameters, for example `deliveryKey:"home*"`. ![The content library search box](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/content-library-search-box-1?w=1880&fmt=png 'The content library search box') When using Dynamic Content to search for content, the following characteristics apply: - Search is performed in the context of the currently selected repository or folder. When searching in the context of a folder, subfolders are not included. - Results of searches are returned ordered by relevance. Where a match is found in an item name it is listed before matches found within the content. - Search is not case sensitive. Entering `Glasses` and `glasses` returns the same results. - Search works in combination with filters. For example, if you have set a filter to show items updated in the last 7 days, the search is restricted to those items only. See [Filtering](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/user-guides/basics/dynamic-content/content-library/#filtering). ## Basic search A basic search is simply one that doesn't include any parameters. When you enter a basic search term, the search looks in the name **and** body of content. It also checks content IDs, but not delivery keys. Here's a simple example searching for the word `sunglasses`. Note one of the items doesn't contain `sunglasses` in its name, however it's included in the search results because the word `sunglasses` is within the actual content. ![Example showing search results for sunglasses](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/content-library-search-simple-1?w=1880&fmt=png 'Example showing search results for sunglasses') When you enter a search phrase, the search will look for content that includes **all of the words in your phrase**, in any order. For example, the phrase `summer sale` will return content items that contain both the words `summer` **AND** `sale`, as shown in the table below. | Content name results for `summer sale` | Reason content is returned | | :------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------- | | Summer fashion picks | The name contains `summer` and the body contains `sale` | | Spring Sale now on! | The name contains `sale` and the body has the word `summer` | | Get ready for our Summer sale | The name contains `summer` and `sale` | | White dresses for all occasions | The content body contains `summer` and `sale` | > **Tip: Expand your search** > To expand a basic search, put your search phrase in quotes, like this: `"Summer sale"`. This way, you'll get results that include either the word `summer` **OR** `sale`. ### Searching for specific content names To find content with a specific name, for example, `Summer collection sale`, you need to use an advanced search parameter, like this `label:"summer collection sale"`. Read more about [searching with parameters](#parameters). ### Searching for part of a word or string Searching for part of a string, finds results when your search term can be matched the start of a string. For example, searching for `gl`, `glass` or `glasses` will find: - `red-glasses` - `glasses-with-frames` - `glasseswithframes` But doesn't find: - `sunglasses` > **Tip:** To find part of a word within content names we recommend using the `label` parameter with a wildcard. For example, `label:"*glasses"`. See [parameter searches](#parameters). ## Advanced search From the content library in Dynamic Content, you can perform targeted searches using search parameters and wildcards. The parameters can be combined with each other and use wildcards. ### Parameters To search for content by id, name, or delivery key, pass the value using a parameter. | Parameter name | Property name | Example | | :------------- | :------------- |:------------------------------ | | `id` | Content ID | `id:"c60ce7a5-9b3b-47fb-b9e1-1f318b831dc2"` | | `label` | Name | `label:"summer-sale"` | | `deliveryKey` | Delivery key | `deliveryKey:"homepage-banner"` | > **Tip:** If you search for a content item `id` without using the `id` param, the search returns that item with along with all of its related content. The complete list of parameters that can be used with search is: ``` id, label, deliveryKey, text, contentType, contentRepositoryName, contentRepositoryId, status, folderId ``` In addition to using parameters, you can also use Dynamic Content [filters](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/user-guides/basics/dynamic-content/content-library/#filtering) to narrow your search for facets such as content type and status. This search example uses a parameter to find items with `summer` in their name **AND** a delivery key containing `sale`. The search term is: `label:"summer" deliveryKey:"*sale*"`, and there is one matching content item. ![Result of search with parameters and wildcards](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/content-library-search-params-1?w=1880&fmt=png 'Result of search with parameters and wildcards') ### Wildcards Wildcard characters give you greater control with your searches. #### Searching for part of a parameter value Use the `*` wildcard character to search for part of a parameter value. These examples use the `*` wildcard with a parameter to search for content with the delivery keys: home-page-sale, home-page/sale-banner, sale-banner. | To find delivery keys... | Search term | Finds item with delivery key | | :------------------------- | :--------------------- | :------------------------------------------------- | | Ending with `sale` | `deliveryKey:"*sale"` | home-page-sale | | Starting with `sale` | `deliveryKey:"sale*"` | sale-banner | | Containing `sale` anywhere | `deliveryKey:"*sale*"` | home-page-sale, home-page/sale-banner, sale-banner | #### Excluding content from a search Use the `-` to **exclude content containing specific words or terms**. For example, typing `guide -buying` will find content that contains `guide`, but will exclude any content that contains `buying`. ### Combined parameter searches Parameters can be used on their own and in combination with other parameters. Each parameter can be used once only in a search statement. When searching with several parameters, you can refine your results by using **AND** and **OR**. - To use **AND** leave a space between parameters. Items must meet both criteria of the **AND** to be returned in the search results. - To use **OR** put a comma (**,**) between values. Items can meet one or the other of the criteria to be returned by the search. These examples show how to use AND and OR with search parameters: | To find items containing... | Enter | | :----------------------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------- | | A name starting with `sale` AND a delivery key including `home` | `label:"sale*" deliveryKey:"*home*"` | | A name containing `sale` OR `offers` and a delivery key including `home` | `label:"sale,offers" deliveryKey:"*home*"` | These examples show how to combine basic searches with parameters and wildcards. In the examples, `summer` is the basic search, with parameters appended to it. | To find items containing... | Enter | | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------ | | `summer` AND a name starting with `sale` | `summer label:"sale*"` | | `summer` AND a name containing `sale` AND a delivery key starting with `home` | `summer label:"sale" deliveryKey:"home*"` | | `summer` AND a name starting with `sale` OR `denim` AND a delivery key starting with `home` | `summer label:"sale*,denim*" deliveryKey:"home*"` | ## Special characters Dynamic Content search assigns the following characters as 'advanced search characters': | Search character | Description | | :--------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `:` | Used to identify the presence of a parameter within a search term | | `,` | Used to denote an OR condition in a search | | `-` | Used as a wildcard to exclude content from a search when placed immediately before a search term. See [Excluding content from searches](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/user-guides/produce-content/search/#excluding-content-from-a-search). | > **Info: Using special characters in your searches** > You can use these characters in your searches, but search will not find results if you finish a search term with a space followed by more than one special character. For example, `homepage --`. Here's an example, where we have the naming convention `homepage - ` for our website homepage content items: - `homepage - top banner` - `homepage - slider` - `homepage - top slider` - `homepage - footer` The naming convention `homepage - ` for our example content items (above) includes the special character `-`. Here's how we can include that character in our searches: 1. Searching for `homepage --` (with the ` --` at the end), won't find anything because of the trailing ` --`. 2. To retrieve all of our example content items, we can search for `homepage - `. 3. To retrieve items excluding the word `top`, we can enter `homepage -top`. This will find the content that **doesn't contain top**, that is, `homepage - slider` and `homepage - footer`. 4. The search term `homepage - top` will find all of our example items, because the search finds items that include `homepage` or `top`. ## Tips for searching - Using quotes (**""**) will help find more accurate results when searching with a specific parameter, such as `label`. - Understand the differences between searches with and without parameters and quotes: - Entering a basic search for `homepage banner` will match items that have `homepage` AND `banner` in them. Including more words will help to reduce the number results that are returned. - Entering a basic search for `"homepage banner"` (with quotes) will match items that have `homepage` OR `banner` or both. Using quotes in a basic search makes the search less strict than without quotes. - Entering an advanced search for `label:homepage banner` will match items that have a label of `homepage` and which also mention banner in the body. - Entering an advanced search for `label:"homepage banner"` will match items that have a label that contains `homepage` AND `banner`. Using quotes with parameters makes the search stricter than without quotes. - To reduce the results returned by searches: - Apply [filters](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/user-guides/basics/dynamic-content/content-library/#filtering) to reduce the amount of content to search - Use the `-` special character to [exclude content](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/user-guides/produce-content/search/#excluding-content-from-a-search).